UI Hospitals and Clinics Sign On To COVID Drug Clinical Trial

Iowa is among those on the frontlines as we start seeing treatments in the works for the terrible virus at the center of a current global pandemic.

Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center is researching an experimental treatment using the plasma of recently recovered COVID-19 patients and now, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics are becoming part of what's called a "promising" clinical trial of a drug that could help treat COVID-19.

The drug, called Remdesivir will have its safety and effectiveness tested for treating hospitalized patients ages 12 and over, who agree to participate. UI Hospitals and Clinics were approved to join the trial on March 30.

Dr. Dilek Ince is a clinical associate professor of internal medicine at UI and said the drug has already shown effectiveness to treat Coronaviruses in lab testing, including MERS and SARS and most recently SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The clinical trial already has patients enrolled through the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and participants will receive either the drug or placebo for either 5 or 10 days and will be monitored, with results recorded.